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Time, Love and Tenderness

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Recorded
  
1990-1991

Label
  
Columbia 46771

Release date
  
23 April 1991

Length
  
44:45

Artist
  
Michael Bolton

Time, Love & Tenderness httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediaenthumb9

Released
  
April 23, 1991 (1991-04-23)

Producer
  
Walter Afanasieff, Michael Bolton

Time, Love & Tenderness (1991)
  
Timeless The Classics (1992)

Genres
  
Rock music, Pop rock, Soft rock, Adult contemporary music, Album-oriented rock

Nominations
  
Juno Award for International Album of the Year

Awards
  
American Music Award for Favorite Pop/Rock Album

Similar
  
Michael Bolton albums, Rock music albums

Time, Love & Tenderness is the seventh studio album by American recording artist Michael Bolton. The album was released on April 23, 1991 by Columbia Records; it was produced by Walter Afanasieff and Michael Bolton. The album topped the Billboard 200 chart and produced four Top 40 singles: a cover of Percy Sledge's "When a Man Loves a Woman" reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, "Love Is a Wonderful Thing" reached No. 4, "Time, Love and Tenderness" reached No. 7, and "Missing You Now" reached No. 12. All four singles reached the Top 40 in the UK as well, as did a fifth single released only in the UK, "Steel Bars". This is the only album from Bolton's "hit period" that is out of print, due to legal issues surrounding the song "Love Is a Wonderful Thing." The album has since been released on iTunes and other digital music services, with "Love Is a Wonderful Thing" available as an "album-only" download.

Contents

After reaching the top spot, the album enjoyed a steady stay on the charts, eventually selling over 8 million copies in the US. Worldwide, the album has sold approximately 16 million copies and is his best-selling album to date.

Reception

The massive commercial success of Time, Love & Tenderness is sharply contrasted with its critical reception, marked by mostly negative reviews.

In one of the album's few positive reviews, AllMusic criticized the album as a clone of its predecessor, Soul Provider, particularly deriding the cover of "When a Man Loves a Woman" as the album's "obligatory R&B carbon copy". However, they praised the songwriting of Diane Warren, as well as Bolton's singing and his songwriting on the track "Steel Bars".

The Chicago Tribune gave it one of its few mixed reviews, saying that Bolton's talent as a vocalist is generally outweighed by the mediocre material, but that "When a Man Loves a Woman", "We're Not Makin' Love Anymore", "Missing You Now", and "Love Is a Wonderful Thing" are all strong moments. Los Angeles Times also gave a mixed review, calling the album "commercial" and "glitzy", but praising it as containing Bolton's strongest material to date.

However, Entertainment Weekly thoroughly panned the album, declaring that "Bolton's singing amounts to gimmicks ... that replicate soul mannerisms without a hint of that music's power for re-creating human feeling." They derided the album's R&B covers as lacking sensitivity and the original cuts as being formulaic.

The Rolling Stone Album Guide was also mostly negative, criticizing Bolton's vocals on the album for the same reasons as Entertainment Weekly did.

In his Consumer Guide, Robert Christgau gave the album a "dud" rating, calling it "a bad record whose details rarely merit further thought."

Credits

  • Produced by Walter Afanasieff & Michael Bolton
  • Mixed & Engineered by Dana Jon Chapelle, Michael Gilbert, Mick Higgins, Manny Lacarrubba, Matthew LaMonica, Jim Mitchell, Devon Rietveld, David Thoerner, Roger Talkov, Michael Christopher, Richard Kerr
  • Personnel

  • Michael Bolton: vocals
  • Walter Afanasieff - drum programming, synthesized bass, keyboards, synthesizers, Hammond organ, percussion, horn arrangements
  • Chris Camozzi, Michael Landau, Michael Thompson - guitars
  • Randy Jackson - bass guitar
  • Louis Biancaniello - keyboard and drum programming
  • Gary Cirimelli - Synclavier programming
  • Ren Klyce - Akai AX60, Fairlight CMI and Synclavier programming
  • Kenny G - soprano sax on "Missing You Now"
  • Marc Russo - tenor sax on "Save Me"
  • John Beasley - acoustic piano
  • Jerry Hey, Gary Grant, Dan Higgins, Larry Williams - horns
  • Jeff Porcaro - drums on "When a Man Loves a Woman"
  • Kitty Beethoven, Larry Batiste, Terry Brock, Desmond Child, Laura Creamer, Sandy Griffith, Chris Hawkins, Skyler Jett, Melisa Kary, Patti LaBelle, Jean McClain, Jeanie Tracy, Joe Lynn Turner, Myriam Naomi Valle, Tim White - backing vocals
  • Controversy

    In 1964, the American R&B group The Isley Brothers recorded a song titled "Love Is a Wonderful Thing". Not included on an Isley Brothers album until years later, the song was released as a single in 1966 on a 45rpm vinyl record, and it "bubbled under" on the Billboard chart, meaning that it peaked between #101 and #125 on the Hot 100. Bolton's song contained similarities to the song by the Isleys that exceeded the title: in 1994, a jury found songwriters Bolton and Goldmark, along with Sony Music Entertainment (the parent company of Bolton's label, Columbia Records), liable for copyright infringement due to multiple similarities between the two songs and ordered them to pay the Isleys all profits earned from the single plus 28% of the album profits, which amounted to over US$5 millions. On May 9, 2000, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, an appellate court covering the western regions of the U.S., affirmed the jury's decision, which is one of the largest monetary sums to be awarded in a case such as this. On January 22, 2001, the Supreme Court of the United States declined to review the decision of the appellate court despite Bolton's claims that he had never heard the Isley Brothers recording (although he was a fan of their music) and that he was exercising his right to "independent creation". The decision by the Supreme Court not to hear the case resulted in the original verdict remaining valid.

    Songs

    1Love Is a Wonderful Thing4:44
    2Time - Love and Tenderness5:31
    3Missing You Now4:33

    References

    Time, Love & Tenderness Wikipedia